


Misunderstandings and Pumpkin Spiced Lattes

by rachelle (stevebuckyrach)



Series: Fluffy Meet-Cute AUs [6]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, M/M, Punk Bucky Barnes I guess, Steve Rogers is a skinny art student, he's cute though, how do you SELL A FIC IN TAGS, i hate tagging it should be banned, sorry my bad, steve cries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 10:51:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3065069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stevebuckyrach/pseuds/rachelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Meet-Cute where everything goes a little bit wrong but it all works out in the end. </p><p>Steve Rogers hates clubs until he meets Bucky Barnes. A war veteran turned tattoo artist.</p><p>Sam's just happy and a little bit scared of Natasha.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Misunderstandings and Pumpkin Spiced Lattes

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [Misunderstandings and Pumpkin Spiced Lattes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3236861) by [joankindom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/joankindom/pseuds/joankindom)



> (Steve calls Natasha a whore out of anger. I do not agree with slut-shaming, I do not agree with that word or any connotations that it holds, but the situation called for something harsh and I felt it was suitable.)

Clubs weren't Steve Rogers' scene. Clubs played shit music and were mainly populated by sluts of all genders who were simply looking for a good fuck. Steve didn't fall into that category, and alcohol had never excited him all that much so clubs were not fun for the guy. 

*****

Steve Rogers was a 22 year-old Fine Art student in his final year of University. He was well aware that he looked no older than 16 but it rarely bothered him anymore as he had learned to work with what he had. Well, he was forced to learn. His roommate and best friend, Natasha Romanoff, may have been a Physics major with an IQ that tested Stephen Hawking's but that didn't stop her from being one of the hottest people that walked the earth. 

When Steve had met Natasha, they were both in the start of their first year and they were both moving into the same flat. They had other flatmates: a happy guy called Sam who had quickly become Steve's other best friend, a huge but adorable Swedish guy called Thor, and a rich asshole with a massive heart called Tony. They all became friends almost instantly and Steve and Natasha found themselves hanging out together most of the time, often joined by Sam, Tony and Tony's poor boyfriend Bruce for whom Steve had nothing but sympathy.

When Steve met Natasha, the only pair of shoes he owned were a beat up pair of dress shoes that really didn't match his 12 pairs of khakis and 5 sweater vests. To his defence, Natasha, he did have a pair of jeans. Yeah, a hideous pair with no shape, she would argue. Nat had dragged him out to find new clothes (skinny jeans, so many skinny jeans) about five minutes after they introduced themselves. She scared the shit out of Steve but it didn't take long for him to realise what a closet softie she was.

(When he mentioned this to her, she threatened to rip out his trachea and staple it to his urethra if he told anyone else. Steve still hadn't recovered from that mentally scarring image nearly three years later.)

Due to the complete range in Steve, Natasha and Sam's courses, they rarely saw each other in university until Clint Barton came along.

Clint was on the same Mechanical Aviation course as Sam (Steve knew it was something to do with making aeroplanes but that was about it) and they bonded about bird-watching or birds of prey or something. Steve never really made an effort getting to know Clint all that well until Natasha started to. He'd never really seen her interested in anyone before Sam brought Clint around to the flat for the first time. Of course Clint flirted back because Natasha's hot and honestly what heterosexual guy with eyesight wouldn't?! 

Steve noticed Clint's hearing aid in his left ear and couldn't help but smile. After Clint found out about Steve's hearing aids, they often had secret sign language conversations which mainly revolved around Natasha being pissed at them for having secret sign language conversations. 

Natasha and Clint still hadn't labelled their relationship in the final year but they were definitely sleeping together (Steve had walked in on this multiple times) and neither of them even so much as looked at anyone else so everyone just treated them like a couple. Natasha argued every time it was brought up because "why would she want a bird boy as a boyfriend".

 

*****

Leaning against the bar with a Diet Coke, Steve laughed, rolling his eyes as he watched a very drunk Clint Barton trying to grind against an almost completely sober Natasha Romanoff who was trying to force a glass of water down his throat. Sam was dancing with a pretty blonde girl who had obviously fallen for his wit and charm like most people did. 

"It's a nightmare, right?"

Steve looked up at where the muffled, barely-audible voice had come from. If he hadn't been leaning against the bar, Steve could pretty much guarantee that he'd be on the floor right now. Holy shit, this guy was beautiful. His hair was short around the sides but the top was longer and sticking up in all the perfect angles and Steve wanted to run his hands through it really badly. 

"W-What?" Steve asked, mentally kicking himself for being such a loser. A partially-deaf loser. 

"It's a nightmare being the sober one, right?" The guy laughed, leaning down to allow Steve to hear better. However, Steve wasn't wearing his hearing aids and was pretty much relying on the guy's lips to understand what he said. Therefore, the leaning down had almost the opposite affect in terms of hearing the other boy and Steve seriously hated his loss of hearing for that.

Steve obviously looked pretty fed up because the attractive guy looked like a kicked puppy as he spoke. "I'll go, sorry for bothering you."

"I heard that! I'm sorry, you're not bothering me." Steve laughed, and grabbed the other's arm, faltering slightly for a split second at the cool metal replacement of skin and bones. 

Smiling, the gorgeous boy put his other hand out for Steve to shake, pocketing the metal hand out of sight. "I'm Bucky Barnes."

"Bucky?" Steve asked, grinning as he took the other boy's hand. "Surely there's a story behind that."

"It's not as exciting as you'd imagine. Middle name's Buchanan. Bucky's for short, it just stuck."

Steve laughed, sipping his drink. "I'm Steve Rogers, it's nice to meet you."

"So are you deaf or..?" Bucky questioned, a small frown creasing his forehead. 

Shaking his head, Steve gestured to his ear. "Usually wear hearing aids but in places like this they're a hindrance more than a help."

Bucky nodded, "That's pretty cool. So you can hear like normal when you wear them?"

"I'm only partially deaf so I can hear some things without them but yeah, when I wear them I can hear just like normal people."

Bucky smirked, "Are you not a normal person?"

Laughing, Steve shook his head. "I hate clubs and I hate drinking, so nope apparently not."

"So neither of us are normal then," Bucky smiled, "Wanna get some air?"

Steve wasn't sure how he'd kept the attention of the most stunning human he'd ever laid his eyes on for longer than 10 seconds but Bucky genuinely seemed to want to talk to him so Steve drank the remainders of his drink before following Bucky out of the busy club.

There were a group of lads smoking outside and Steve knew exactly how that would end (with him having some kind of traumatic choking fit and collapsing at Bucky's feet) so he gently tugged on Bucky's arm, ensuring to grab the skin one this time to avoid an awkward situation, "Can we walk?"

Bucky smiled, nodding his head. Leading the way, he slowly set off down the street. "Can you hear me out here?"

"Yeah, just stay close and we'll be good."

"Was planning on it anyway, Stevie." Bucky smirked at the blonde who was now blushing quite furiously beside him. 

The light was different outside which allowed Steve to get a better look at Bucky's outfit which consisted of a leather jacket, dark denim jeans and fuck a neck tattoo. "Nice tattoo, how many do you have?" Steve asked, trying not to dribble all over himself or the inhumanely attractive male.

Bucky bit his lip in thought. "Um.. I have.. quite a few!" he laughed, "I'm a tattoo artist, it's what I do."

Steve wanted to die, why was Bucky so perfect?! "Are you a murderer? Do you step on babies? Do you think dogs are just for Christmas?"

"No, no and no. I'm a first aider, my mum's a midwife, and I've had my dog for four Christmases." Bucky raised an eyebrow, waiting for Steve to continue his point. 

Groaning, Steve nudged Bucky. "What about you isn't perfect, because I'm struggling to find a single flaw. My self esteem's suffering over here!" Steve rolled his eyes as Bucky burst out laughing, throwing an arm around Steve's shoulders. 

"M'not perfect, pal. Far from it."

"You're wrong." Steve mumbled happily, enjoying Bucky's warmth. 

Bucky slightly tightened his grip, sighing. "I'm a vet. A war vet."

Staying close to Bucky, Steve frowned. "How is that a flaw? That's pretty much the opposite, if you ask me."

The taller man scoffed, "It fucked me up."

Steve stopped walking and looked up at Bucky who had removed his arm from Steve's shoulders. "Buck.."

"Steve, I better go. It was great meetin' ya, pal. Sorry for wastin' your time."

"G-Go?" Steve asked, his heart breaking at the idea. "Wasting my time? Bucky what are you on about?"

"I'd love to fuck around with ya, Stevie, but I gotta bail."

Steve's mouth opened in shock, his head and heart pounding in his body. "Sex. That's all this was." He mumbled, mainly to himself.

Before Bucky could say anything else, Steve was breaking into a run down the road, pulling his phone out of his pocket to call Natasha and a cab. He needed to be in his warm bed wearing snuggly pyjamas, with ice cream and a variety of baked goods, right at that moment. After filling Natasha in on what had happened with Bucky ("Bucky?!" "Yes, Nat, it's a nickname." "Sounds like he's gonna rock your world." "Well apparently that was the plan.") and quite a few tears, some of frustration and some of loneliness, Steve finally fell asleep.

 

*****

The next morning, to no surprise, Steve woke up in the same shitty mood he fell asleep in. Dragging himself out of bed, he wandered over to Natasha's door and knocked three times. Steve would usually just walk into her room but he knew Clint would be in there and definitely didn't want to have that further scarred into his memory, thank you very much. 

After a loud bang and a groan from the other side of the door, it swung open to reveal a half-asleep Bucky Barnes minus his jacket and jeans. 

"What the fuck are you doing here?!" Steve snarled, memories of last night's tears and anger filling his mind. 

Bucky looked terribly hungover and confused but he still looked fucking perfect and Steve was sick of his stupid face. It took the blonde a few seconds than it should have to put it together. Bucky was in Natasha's room and a quick look behind the hungover mess confirmed that Natasha was sleeping in a similar amount of clothes as Bucky, and Clint was no where to be seen. Fuck. 

Tears filled Steve's eyes as he turned around and speedily walked to his room. Throwing on some skinny jeans, his comfiest sweater and a pair of Vans, he grabbed his sketchbook and pencils from his desk and tossed them into his bag before practically running out of the apartment building and down the road to his favourite cafe.

Natasha and Bucky. Bucky and Natasha. Steve replayed this over and over in his head as he sat down at his usual booth in the back, taking out his drawing equipment. He knew that Bucky and Steve's "relationship" was literally half an hour in a club that had clearly meant nothing but a quick shag for Bucky, but still. It fucking hurt. Bucky didn't know who Natasha was so maybe, just maybe, he wasn't at fault here, but she knew what happened and she knew his name so what the fuck would possess her to do this to Steve?!

Steve spent the next few hours drinking pumpkin spiced lattes (they weren't from Starbucks therefore he wasn't a basic bitch thank you very much, Natasha) and sketching random things absentmindedly; the coffee shop, Bucky's hair, the customers, Bucky's hand, his apartment block, Bucky's smile, the New York skyline at night, Bucky's eyes, his family, Bucky, Bucky, Bucky. 

Wiping the tears away from his cheeks with the sleeve of his jumper, he took his phone out of his pocket and wasn't particularly surprised at what he found.

(19) Missed Call(s) from Ah..Satan  
(12) Missed Call(s) from Unknown  
(6) Missed Call(s) from Sam I Am  
(5) Missed Call(s) from Clint Romanoff

(13) iMessage(s) from Unknown  
(10) iMessage(s) from Ah..Satan  
(10) iMessage(s) from Sam I Am  
(4) Message(s) from Clint Romanoff

Rolling his eyes, Steve flicked through the messages from Natasha first. They mainly consisted of sentences that abused exclamation marks along with "honestly it can all be explained" and "I know exactly where you are, but I know you too well to disturb your 'super secret' pumpkin spiced latte booth time with your pencils". 

The unknown number who Steve now knew was Bucky, pretty much mirrored Natasha's "come back" texts, including an extra "it wasn't what it looked like" added on the end. 

Sam's messages were all asking how Steve was doing and included a few sad face emojis as well as every colour of love heart emoji that Apple provided. 

The messages from Clint made very little sense up until midday where he apologised for the lack of texting skills and blamed his hangover. He mentioned that Natasha had explained the situation to him and Steve should give her a chance to make it right. 

Steve ignored them all, throwing his phone onto the table.

*****

The shop closed at 5pm so, begrudgingly, Steve packed up his stuff and headed back to his apartment, feeling himself getting more upset and annoyed every step he took. 

Even though Bucky would be long gone, the idea of seeing Natasha (who was hopefully now wearing clothes) pissed Steve off. Wasn't she supposed to be dating Clint? Steve knew they denied it but he'd always thought that deep down they loved each other. Clearly not if she was fucking random guys she met at clubs. Clearly not if she fucked Bucky. 

And why the fuck would Bucky do that? Steve was well aware of the answer: Natasha was really hot and Bucky wanted sex. But it made Steve feel sick to the stomach and he could feel tears threatening to fall from his eyes. 

Willing them away, Steve opened the door to their flat and headed straight for his room. Unlocking his door, he threw his stuff down and dropped onto his bed. 

A few minutes later there was a light knock on his door that Steve already knew was Sam. Opening the door, he smiled at the other guy who looked slightly scared to be standing there. "What's up?" Steve asked. 

"Nat asked me to come get you."

Sam looked increasingly more timid with every second that passed so rolling his eyes, Steve walked out of his room. "She threatened your life, didn't she?"

Sam chuckled, humming in approval, before following Steve into the kitchen where Natasha was perched on the corner of the table. He then proceeded to hastily leave, clearly terrified of the collision between Steve's fiery temper and Natasha's combat skills.

"You're a fucking idiot." Natasha said as soon as Sam left. 

Steve laughed harshly, "For thinking you weren't a whore? For thinking you wouldn't fuck the guy I cried to you over?"

Natasha's eyebrow raised as she gave Steve a moment to calm down. "I didn't fuck h-"

"You cried?" A voice questioned from behind Steve, sounding a mixture between horrified and confused. 

Steve already knew who the voice was and turning to look at him would only answer Bucky's question as the rage building inside of him every second was filling his eyes with tears. Still facing Natasha, his hands formed fists at his sides. 

"You knew his name, you knew what happened, you knew how I felt. How the fuck could you do that to me?" Steve's breathing was becoming less and less regular as his emotions heightened. 

Natasha let out a deep sigh, "Jesus fucking Christ Steve, can't you just listen to me? I didn't fuck him."

Steve scoffed, "Yeah okay, Natasha. You both just happened to be half-naked in bed together!"

"No we didn't 'just happen' to be half-naked." Natasha groaned, pulling Steve to sit down, before taking a seat opposite him.

"Steve, I met Bucky after you called me and he was looking like you were feeling. I asked him if he was alright and offered to buy him a drink. He said he was just feeling sorry for himself but sure a drink would be great. I'd already sent Clint off in a taxi with Sam because he was paralytically drunk and needed to go home.

After Bucky told me his name, which I already knew, I told him he could stay in my room if he needed somewhere to stay that wouldn't drive him to suicide. He took this as some kind of twisted pick up line-"

"Hey! I've gotten worse." Bucky interrupted.

"Then", Natasha continued, clearing her throat. "He told me he was gay, which I already knew, but sure. So he came back here and I asked him about his tattoo because I've wanted one for ages and he offered to show me his. Hence him being half-naked."

Steve looked up at her, guilt already building up inside. 

"He then asked me where I wanted mine and I showed him the tattoo I currently have, which involved taking off my dress. Hence me being half-naked."

"You told me you don't have any tattoos." Steve frowned.

Natasha sighed, "I tell you a lot of things."

"Show me then," Steve demanded, trying to hide his mischievous smirk.

Shooting Bucky a glare, Natasha grumbled that she hated him before taking her shirt off and turning around to show Steve the small "C" tattoo on the back of her left shoulder and the tiny padlock to the right of it. 

Steve couldn't help the laugh that followed, along with the beaming smile. "I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT, STEVE ROGERS KNEEEEW IT," he sung, "You luuuuurve Clint Barton."

Rolling her eyes, Natasha put the shirt back on. "Yes, I do! So why you think I had sex with Bucky, I have no idea."

Steve sighed, "Sorry, Tash."

"It's okay, idiot, I knew exactly how it looked. I'm sorry I didn't warn you that your future husband was in our flat."

Standing up with a grin on her face, Natasha leant over to kiss Steve's cheek before heading out of the room.

"Oh, and Rogers?" She said, turning around to face him from the doorway. "I may be a whore but I'm only a whore for you, baby." 

Steve smirked as she threw him a wink and practically skipped out the room. 

The smirk disappeared instantly when he realised that Bucky was approximately five feet away from him and the tension was becoming unbearable.

"So." Bucky spoke up, walking over to sit in the chair that Natasha had just vacated. "I'm sorry. For all of this."

Steve still avoided eye contact, his head lowered slightly. "What, for coming to my flat and sleeping half-naked in a bed with my best friend?"

"Y-Yes." Bucky cleared his throat, running a hand through his hair. "And for making you leave.. last night. It wasn't just sex, I didn't even want to have sex with y- Okay that's not true, I just mean that it wasn't my priority."

"Okay. So you told me you were a veteran, I told you it was amazing, you bailed." Steve sighed at the memory. "I may be a 22 year-old that's had no real relationships but I know that's not exactly normal."

"I told you. I'm fucked up."

Frowning, Steve finally lifted his head to look at Bucky. He was even more beautiful in daylight if that was possible. "How?"

"How am I fucked up?" Bucky scoffed, meeting Steve's eyes for a second before looking away. "Well I only have one arm, for starters."

Steve smiled, nodding. "I know. The other one's metal, right?"

"W-What? How did you?" Bucky looked back at Steve, a shocked expression covering his face. 

"I touched it last night. Then this morning you were only wearing a t-shirt so I saw it."

Bucky's confused look made Steve roll his eyes. "What, Buck?"

"You knew I had one arm and you still wanted to get to know me." Bucky said, though it came out as more of a question.

"Yes. And I still haven't found a single flaw."

The smile that spread across Bucky's face gave Steve a feeling of warmth and comfort. "Maybe you should stick around, you'll have a list longer than your arm by next year."

"I highly doubt it but I'll give it a shot."

Bucky leant across the table, kissing Steve with a gentle passion that Steve could later only describe to Natasha and Sam as "unbelievably incredibly undeniably perfect". 

After a few seconds, Steve pulled back slightly, still holding Bucky's jacket collar. "B-Buck?"

"Yeah, Stevie?" Bucky smiled, pressing a chaste kiss to Steve's lips as he waited for an answer. 

Steve sighed, "You're gonna run away the second I tell you."

Bucky frowned, pulling away from Steve to walk around the table and take a seat next to the blonde. "I'm not going anywhere, baby."

Steve couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face at the pet name. He turned to face Bucky, slotting their knees together. "That.. T-That..."

Wrapping his arms around him, Bucky pulled Steve sidewards onto his knee, letting Steve lean against his chest. "Whatever it is, it's not as bad as you think."

Steve lightly kissed Bucky's cheek before whispering. "That was my first kiss."

"What?" Bucky laughed, "No way?!"

Completely mortified, Steve pulled off Bucky's lap, standing up. "I kne-"

Steve was cut off by a pair of lips on his. He tried to pull away but Bucky just kissed him harder, wrapping his arms around Steve's waist. 

A few minutes later, Bucky pulled away to place kisses all over Steve's face before pulling away fully, still holding Steve close to him. "Everyone who hasn't kissed you is stupid but I'm quite glad they are, if I'm being honest."

"And why would that be?" Steve raised an eyebrow, looking up at Bucky. 

"Because this way, you're all mine."

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, these are all the ones I've written so far! I have a few university assignments (uggghghhhghh) but soon I'll be back with more.
> 
> You can find me crying about stevebucky, sebastian stan and chris evans on twitter: @damnsebastian
> 
> and also on tumblr:  
> cuddlystevebucky.tumblr.com


End file.
